Methudas' Teacher
by Tesekian
Summary: While most of the world is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the victory over the Goa'uld, SG-2 make a worrying discovery and it's up to SG-1 to find out what really happened in the final battle
1. Default Chapter

**We are what history makes of us, and history doesn't care about personality. Future generations will never know about the donations we may have made to charity, or the way we always listened when our friends needed to talk. A million gentle words and kindly acts will be excluded from the pages of history. History only cares about the acts that change the world, the choices made in the heat of battle. Those are what make the difference in whether we are respected, or hated. -from Doorway to Heaven by General Jack O'Neill**  
  
The five of them were already sitting round the table in the restaurant when the reporter came in. She apologised for being late and placed her maj recorder on in the centre of the table so that it could record the scene. Like most of the devices to come out of the P6Y-813 research centre, the maj had got its name from a bad joke. The official name was Holo Matrix System. Some British scientist had mentioned that ships belonging to the Royal Navy all began with the initials HMS, so the system became known as the royals, and then eventually the majesties, which had later been shortened.  
  
"Now," began the reporter, "I'm not going to talk about the event that made these people famous, as everybody should know about that, and for anyone that doesn't we have a program on it later this evening. I'm instead going to talk about you five: the saviours of our planet. What would you be doing now, if it wasn't for the Stargate Project?"  
  
"I'd probably be a skeleton in a graveyard with a hole in my skull," General O'Neill said simply. This obviously shocked the reporter, so he went on to explain, "My son died just before I joined the project and I was a wreck. The Stargate Project and later the SGC gave my life meaning, a purpose."  
  
"And what about you?" The reporter hurriedly moved on to the next person round the table.  
  
"I'd be flying a transport plane or sitting around a military lab with nothing interesting to do and wondering why I decided to join the Air Force," Colonel Carter said with a grin.  
  
"I would doubtless have been executed as a traitor," Teal'c said, "or I would be continuing to serve Apophis and aiding him kill and enslave innocent humans." That reply was almost as disturbing as O'Neill's. It was one thing to know about Teal'c's past, it was another to have him state it as though it were a perfectly normal thing.  
  
"I'd be working in a hospital healing broken bones and other everyday injuries," Dr Fraiser said, "and probably wishing I could have some of the technology I have now to help me."  
  
General Hammond spoke last, "I'd be enjoying a nice, quiet retirement somewhere, full of golf and fishing. I would have no idea how lucky I was not knowing Jack O'Neill."  
  
"Hey!" O'Neill complained, "You'd be bored out of your mind without me and you know it!"  
  
"True," Hammond admitted with a laugh.  
  
"Of all the people who have worked with the Stargate, who do you admire the most, not including those here now?" the reporter asked next. The five of them all glanced at each other, some unreadable message passing silently between them. Teal'c just looked impassive.  
  
"Kawalsky," O'Neill said, "he was brave, a good soldier, and a loyal friend."  
  
"I don't know," Hammond said, "The SGC has had a lot of good of good men and women working for it. I don't feel that I could select any one of them."  
  
"I would say Bra'tac," Teal'c said, "However I do not know if you would include him, for he is not of this world."  
  
"Neither are you," O'Neill countered, "and you're one of the 'saviours of our planet'." Teal'c nodded in acknowledgement. "It's a difficult question to answer because we've all know so many good people," he continued to the reporter, "and not just the soldiers. We'd never have got anywhere without the doctors putting us back together when things got rough off-world," he gestured towards Dr Fraiser, "and then what about the scientists and historians? The scientists who worked on for the SGC are responsible for most of the technological breakthroughs of the past ten years, and the historians have altered our understanding of our own planet and culture."  
  
"I never thought of you as much of a culture person."  
  
"I'm a big fan of culture." There were snorts of laughter from three of the people round the table. Teal'c just raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Then why have the words 'culture be damned' so frequently passed your lips?" Teal'c inquired.  
  
"OK, so I've not always enthused about culture, but even the most bored participant in a dig picks up something. I've seen first hand on a lot of different planets just how culture affects people, so I'm not as against it as I used to be. I knew some good people at the SGC, who taught me to value things like history." Dr Fraiser and Carter glanced at each other.  
  
"People do need to remember all those who aren't in the limelight," Carter agreed, "I've had a lot of good technicians and fellow scientists who've done a lot of good work when the world's about to be sucked into a black hole or destroyed by an alien artefact. But who's heard of people like Graham Simmons or Jonas Quinn?"  
  
"Not me, I'm afraid," the reporter admitted.  
  
"How is Jonas?" O'Neill asked.  
  
"Fine," Carter replied, "we were worried he was going telepathic at one stage, but it turned out just to be a prank by some of the students who've come to the labs for work experience." That was met by laughter from round the table.  
  
"Would any of you consider writing a book about your experiences with the SGC?"  
  
"I might write a book about the physics of the Stargate," Carter said, "but it wouldn't make very interesting reading except to a theoretic astrophysicist who doesn't mind that it would be mostly theories with very little proof."  
  
"Mine would probably be quite dull after a while," Dr Fraiser said. "'Did a post-mission physical, did a post-mission physical, found out SG-1 had an alien virus, found the cure to the alien virus, did a post-mission physical, did a post-mission physical, found out SG-1 had been turned into robots, did a post-mission physical, cured SG-1 of another alien disease, did a post-mission physical.' Hardly any variety."  
  
"I had thought about writing a book before the SGC started," Hammond admitted, "but I'm not sure everything that's happened would fit in one book."  
  
"I do not believe I know your language well enough to make such a book interesting," Teal'c said simply.  
  
"Mine would be a ticket to a court marshal," O'Neill grinned, "I'd actually be putting down in words all those times I'd broken the regs, or disobeyed a direct order. I'm not sure I could keep track of them all."  
  
"Now we're on to the questions that are supposed to give insights into your minds," the reporter said, "If you pretended to be a god, what would you do?"  
  
"I would never do such a thing," Teal'c said instantly.  
  
"I'd make sure there were no trees near any Stargate on any planet," O'Neill said with feeling. "You get through that Gate and the first thing you see is a load of damn trees! Every single time!" There was laughter around the table. "Oh, I'd also make sure every kid in the universe owned a dog."  
  
"Dr Fraiser?"  
  
"I'd make it illegal to get ill while I'm spending quality time with my daughter."  
  
"I'd make sure every Air Force colonel who couldn't stand the idea of having a woman on his team was forced to serve under a woman commander to learn that women could be just as good as men," Carter said, looking at O'Neill.  
  
"We never did have that arm wrestle, did we?"  
  
"I'd make sure every base in the galaxy had a team as good as SG-1," Hammond said.  
  
"You're make us blush," O'Neill laughed, far from blushing.  
  
"Which person from history do you relate to most?" All five of them thought for a while. Well, four of them looked like they were thinking and it was impossible to tell with Teal'c.  
  
"I'd go for Louis Pasteur," Carter said at last, "he made several great discoveries, but the discovery he's most famous for was more chance than anything else. Discovering how the Stargate worked was done through trial and a lot of error."  
  
"She's Hitler," O'Neill nodded towards Dr Fraiser, "she loves to control everyone and if anyone crosses her they're punished severely." He used to tone of horror to say, "Rectal examinations."  
  
"OK, so I'm Hitler," Dr Fraiser laughed, "Who are you?"  
  
"Julius Caesar." Even Teal'c looked puzzled at that comment. "I go around trying to discover new lands and people. And quite a lot of the time I feel like people are plotting against me." He gestured towards Carter and Teal'c.  
  
"There's a difference between refusing to obey orders and plotting against you," Carter said.  
  
"General Hammond?" the reporter inquired.  
  
"I don't think there's ever been anyone who's had to put up with what I've had to put up with," Hammond said.  
  
"I would choose Cra'anc," Teal'c said, "he was the Jaffa who found Kheb and first learned that the Goa'uld were not gods. However, if I must choose a figure from Earth history I would choose Martin Luther King."  
  
"If you had to go and live on another planet, where would you go?"  
  
"Technically, I already live on another planet," Carter said, "but not counting 813 I would go to Endras, to be with my father."  
  
"I'd go to Abydos," O'Neill said, "they're such great people there."  
  
"I would return to Chulak," Teal'c said, "the world of my birth."  
  
"The genetic labs on Hanka would be fascinating," Dr Fraiser said, "plus it's my daughter's home world."  
  
"Anywhere I could be sure of Jack O'Neill never going." Hammond's answer was met with laughter, especially when O'Neill threw a teaspoon at Hammond.  
  
"Of all the races you have met who do you like the best?"  
  
"I have to say the Tok'ra," Carter said, "because Dad might get to watch this interview."  
  
"The Asgards definitely," O'Neill said, "I mean, they named a ship after me."  
  
"However they did destroy the O'Neill before it was even finished," Teal'c added. This time it was a fork O'Neill threw.  
  
"Since I am in fact a member of another race," Teal'c said, "I feel I should be allowed to say humans."  
  
"I think I agree with Jack," Hammond said, "because the Asgard have done a lot to help Earth."  
  
"And they're the only race to have shared any technology with us," Dr Fraiser added, "I love them for the bone fusion devices. It saves so much time when dealing with broken bones."  
  
"This is a question just for the SG-1 members. What's the worst thing that's happened to you on a mission?"  
  
"Dying," Carter and O'Neill said together.  
  
"Or possible freezing to death in the Antarctic with no idea where we were," Carter added.  
  
"I had a load of alien knowledge downloaded into my brain that meant I stopped being able to speak English or understand people," O'Neill said.  
  
"I was stung by an insect that began to change me into those insects," Teal'c said.  
  
"We all had our memories altered and were turned into slaves at one point," Carter said.  
  
"The list is endless," O'Neill said.  
  
"Well, that's all we've got time for," the reporter said, "I'd like to thank you all." There was chorus of 'your welcome's from round the table and then she turned off her maj recorder and left. Then a waiter came up to them and they ordered their meal so that they could enjoy the rest of the evening now that the business was out of the way. With Teal'c and Sam both off-world most of the time and Jack supposedly enjoying a quiet retirement in Minnesota they hardly ever had time together as friends. When the wine came Jack lifted his glass in a toast.  
  
"To those people who should be here to celebrate this weekend but aren't," he said. As they drank, there wasn't a person round the table who wasn't thinking about Daniel.  
  
***  
  
Author's note: OK, I know Abydos was destroyed at the end of last season, but just assume for a minute it wasn't. It doesn't make a difference in this story really anyway. 


	2. SG2

Several times SG-1 went to worlds where people lived in peacefully, almost idyllically, and it seemed too good to be true. For those of us used to human selfishness, it seemed impossible to believe that a world could exist where people strove with all their might to make life better for everyone else, not just for themselves. -from Doorway to Heaven by General Jack O'Neill  
  
Colonel Mark Farlow was annoyed that SG-2 had to work the holiday weekend. He should be at home celebrating and impressing his nieces and nephews with tales of his wonderful adventures through the Stargate. Just because he hadn't been part of the SGC on Freedom Day didn't mean he didn't deserve to celebrate. No one had been around on American Independence Day, but they still got to spend the weekend having fun.  
  
Still, as he stepped out of the Gate on P2C-437, he didn't think it looked like this mission would take too long.  
  
"You cannot carry weapons here." Mark spun round to face the speaker, his zat aimed. He saw a man wearing brown robes. He looked like some sort of monk. He looked no older than Mark, with just a few flecks of white in his brown hair and a few fine lines showing his age, but something about his eyes suggested he was far older.  
  
"I am unarmed," the man continued, seeing the team's mistrust of him. "It is our second law that no one on Methudas can carry weapons."  
  
"What's your first law?" Mark asked.  
  
"That no person may intentionally hurt another. Even to bruise someone would be committing a great crime. If you wish to speak to the people of Methudas or merely stay on this planet, you must first leave your weapons here. If you do not trust us not to hurt you then you can return to your own world. But I give you my word that you will not be harmed during your stay here." Mark looked at the man, and then at his team. He didn't think this man was lying, but he didn't want to risk his team in an unknown situation either.  
  
"What insurance do we have that you won't hurt us?"  
  
"I can give you only my word." Mark thought for a few moments, and then put his zat down by the Gate. Matthews, Keeling and Lowe put theirs down with it. The man turned and led them away from the Gate, through pleasant grassland dotted with trees.  
  
"What's your name?" Mark asked.  
  
"My name is Rayel Thruth," the man said, "it means 'teacher from the stars'."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I came from another world to Methudas, but now I teach the ways of Methudas to others. What is your name?"  
  
"Colonel Mark Farlow. This is Major Richard Mathews, Lieutenant Sophie Keeling and Dr Frank Lowe."  
  
"How did you come to be on Methudas?" Lowe asked.  
  
"I was an explorer." Rayel explained, "I wanted to find knowledge that could be used to help people, but the leaders of my world were more interested in finding weapons to fight wars. I didn't approve, and when I found information describing Methudas I left my people and came here."  
  
"And now you teach?" Lowe asked, "But if the people of Methudas already believe this stuff about not hurting people, who do you teach?"  
  
"Whenever a subject is worth learning there will be people to learn it," Rayel said. He evaded them so well it took Mark a few minutes to realise that he hadn't actually answered the question.  
  
"Where was your original home?" Keeling asked.  
  
"Methudas was the first place I felt I belonged, so Methudas is the only place that has really been my home." Yet again, Rayel skilfully evaded answering. Mark wondered what he was hiding.  
  
He forgot about that when they mounted a ridge and looked down at a settlement. There were a lot of low houses made of a white stone, but often with decorations made of other stones of different colours. They were built with no gardens or patches of land belong to them, the land seemed to have no owners. What surprised Mark most was that there were no streets. The areas between buildings were grassland, often planted with flowers, but there was no sign of transport to get around. Surrounding the settlement were fields of grain and vegetables. There didn't appear to be any technology.  
  
"It's beautiful," Keeling said. Mark agreed with her: it looked so peaceful and contented. In a few minutes they were between the buildings and Mark decided they looked even nicer close up. Most of them had flowers next to them, or growing in window boxes, and colourful stones were placed in patterns to show flowers or trees on the walls. The whole place was filled with natural beauty.  
  
They passed a large grass area where children were playing. Mark couldn't quite make out the rules of the game. There were three balls that they were throwing around between them and catching. One child might try to snatch a ball away from one player, and then throw it to him a minute later. As they were watching, he saw a board at one side of the playing field. This board kept changing colours on its own, seemingly randomly. Perhaps they weren't as primitive as he'd thought.  
  
Suddenly, girl snatched a ball of a younger boy. That boy tried to grab it back, but slipped and fell. There was no referee's whistle, the game just stopped instantly. The girl rushed back to him.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"We're not playing cadge," the boy said, getting up.  
  
"I'm still sorry." The boy had a bruise growing on his cheek, but appeared to be OK. The board had frozen on green, and the girl handed the ball to the boy. The board changed to purple and the balls started moving again. Mark was surprised to see the boy immediately throw the ball to the girl.  
  
"What's cadge?" Keeling asked Rayel, "Is it another game?"  
  
"I've explained that hurting others is against the law on Methudas, but this game is often violent. Children can choose to play 'no cadge' which means no one is held responsible for any accidental injuries they cause." That made sense to Mark.  
  
They continued to walk through the settlement and Rayel turned to other matters. "Will you be staying here long enough to require a place to sleep?"  
  
"We're supposed to be here forty-eight hours," Mark said.  
  
"Then I will go and arrange rooms for you," Rayel said. "Feel free to go anywhere you like. If you want to know about things just ask and my people will be glad to help you." Then he turned and left.  
  
"Well, he seemed friendly," said Lowe.  
  
"Yeah," replied Mark, "I wonder what he was hiding."  
  
"Maybe we should find out," suggested Keeling.  
  
Most of the buildings in Methudas looked like they were probably family homes, but some were larger than the others. Mark guessed that those would be the public buildings where important business was done. At any rate, it was as good a place to start as any. The first building was lined with long tables and looked like a dining room of some sort. They tried a door in the back and decided that guess was probably right. The door led to what was definitely a kitchen, even if the machines were far more advanced than anything on Earth. There were things that could possibly be ovens, and various other pieces of equipment he guessed were for food preparation. It was the containers of food lying around that showed what the room was. For a world that looked so primitive they certainly had a lot of technology.  
  
The next building contained some machines that were probably computers. A couple of people were working at them.  
  
"Can we help you?" one asked.  
  
"We're just looking around," Mark said. He contemplated asking them some stuff, but if they were hiding anything they probably wouldn't just tell them what it was, so he waved the team out.  
  
A few of the large buildings were storerooms. The doors were sealed, but windows in the doors showed crates or sacks. Most were labelled, but that didn't help as the labels were in some language that even Lowe didn't recognise. He normally started going on about how it could possibly be related to some long dead language when facing alien writings. This time he just looked at it and said it was like nothing he'd ever seen before.  
  
Another building was a school. Groups of children were in different rooms studying different things. Mark looked in one door and saw a teacher pointed out things on a 3D hologram of the galaxy to children who were either talking or on the point of falling asleep. Apparently school was boring no matter where in the universe it was.  
  
The town was large, and they'd barely started looking round when a bell sounded. People came out of houses and buildings and walked in the same direction.  
  
"Maybe it's some sort of religious event," Lowe suggested.  
  
"Maybe," Mark agreed, and led the team in the same direction everyone else was going. It turned out not to be anything religious, unless these people worshipped food. They ended up in a dinning room similar to the one they'd been in earlier, but not quite the same. Food was laid out on the tables and everyone was bustling around talking to each other and looking for places to sit.  
  
"See what you can find out," Mark said, and they spread out to different tables. He sat down next to a man who was trying to convince a teenage girl to sit with him. The girl eventually stalked off and went to sit with a group of her own age at another table.  
  
"Kids," Mark muttered.  
  
"Do you have children?" the man asked.  
  
"No, but I've enough nephews and nieces to know what hassle they can be."  
  
"Sadir is growing up, and claims I want to stop her. Perhaps I do, but I can't help thinking about her as my little girl." The man had a slight dreamy look on his face. This wasn't telling him anything other than parents had the same problems whatever planet they were on.  
  
"Have you always lived here?" Mark asked.  
  
"All my life. My father's family have been here so long no one can remember when they came, but my mother was an offworlder. One of Methudas's teachers went through the Stargate to try and teach others our ways. My mother was one of those who came here."  
  
"Do a lot of people come here from off-world?"  
  
"Quite a lot. Many leave again, and go back to their own worlds to teach there what they learned here. Most of those who stay often come from worlds destroyed by war."  
  
"So they come to a world where war never happens." The man nodded. Mark realised that most people were eating, so he began to help himself to what was on offer. One of the first things you learned at the SGC was not to be afraid to try different things on other planets. The food was actually quite good, even if he had no idea what any of it was.  
  
"Do you ever have any problems with crime here?" Mark asked.  
  
The man laughed. "No, the only incident of violence in my lifetime was when a three year old boy hit another child. He wasn't punished, being so young. We never have any thieving, because the society work together to produce all that we need and we share all that we have."  
  
"How do you maintain such good order?"  
  
"Our whole society is based on peace. Everyone who lives here does so because he or she doesn't want to live on a world where violence is common."  
  
"What about threats from off-world? The Goa'uld?"  
  
"We are defended. There is a shield around the Stargate that activates if someone comes through carrying weapons. No one can get through the shield, so anyone with hostile intent is forced to leave again. And no one can attack from space because of a similar shield." This sounded promising.  
  
"Our people are interested in trading technology. Would it be possible for us to learn about how this shield works?"  
  
"You would have to ask the teachers. I expect they will allow it." It would be great if they could. The research centre on 813 was trying to find a way to build an energy shield, but they had nothing that could protect a planet. The naquadriah research had yet yielded a stable enough form of energy. They talked through dinner, but the conversation turned to matters of little interest to Earth's leadership. Still, Mark would try to find out what he could about the shield. When dinner was over he went outside with the team.  
  
"What did you find out?" he asked.  
  
"This place is as peaceful as possible," Keeling said.  
  
"There are people from all sorts of different places. There is no trace of any Earth-based culture, it seems their whole society has come into being around the basis of having peace," Lowe said.  
  
"The people are happy here," Matthews added.  
  
"Well, I've found out that there's a defence shield surrounding this entire planet and another one by the Stargate in case anyone tries to attack, but no weapons of any sort."  
  
"Colonel Farlow." Mark turned and saw Rayel coming up to them. "I was wondering if you would like to see your rooms."  
  
"Yes, thank-you," Mark said. His suspicions of Rayel had disappeared during the day, when he'd seen what a paradise this planet was. He doubted anyone would even think about doing something to threaten his team.  
  
***  
  
The colonel and Frank had gone to discuss the shield with the teachers, leaving Sophie and Richard to explore the city some more. They'd had a wonderful night's sleep and another good breakfast. Everyone was so cheerful and happy that Sophie could almost believe this was a paradise world. If ever she wanted to retire off-world, she'd pick this planet.  
  
They saw children playing the same game they'd been playing the previous day and stopped to watch. They weren't in any rush to finish searching. Sophie began to notice a pattern in the seemingly random throwing. A child who tried to snatch the ball when the board was purple would be involved in the throwing the rest of the time. Sophie guessed that the changing colours were a way of changing who was 'it'.  
  
The game ended when an adult came out an ushered the children into school, and the two from Earth continued their search. They went into a large building. A woman in something that looked similar to a labcoat was looking at information on a screen. The information was in graphs, symbols and alien writings that neither could make any sense of.  
  
They went on through the room, and opened a door at the back. The first thing they saw was Rayel, standing in front of tanks filled with a light green liquid in which fish were swimming. The next thing they saw was that the fish weren't fish at all. Sophie's heart leapt in fear at things that she had only hitherto seen in pictures. Things Earth believed destroyed.  
  
Goa'uld! 


	3. Punishment

In my time at the SGC and before, I fought many battles. None were worse than that final battle to defeat the Goa'uld. There was so much death, on both sides, that to me it sometimes seems wrong that we should celebrate that day. I know people say it was worth it, but I ask, when is death ever worth it? Every man, woman and Jaffa who died in that battle had friends and families that they will never see again. War, though sometimes necessary, should never be celebrated. from Doorway to Heaven by General Jack O'Neill.  
  
***  
  
Jack sat at the computer in his cabin in Minnesota. For a little log cabin he had a lot of technology: TV, maj, computer. He was logged onto the internet composing an email. Or trying to.  
  
'Dear Mr Morth,  
  
You are a stupid idiot who knows nothing about anything. . . '  
  
Tempting as that opening sounded, he knew it wouldn't work. A. S. Morth had published a book about an archaeologist working for the SGC. Apparently he had tried to make it as historically accurate as possible, getting dates of missions correct. While most of the book was fictitious, it had to include some people who actually existed. And Jack was rather angry about the way Daniel had been portrayed.  
  
'Dear Mr Morth,  
  
I regret to inform you about some inaccuracies in your novel. The objections General Hammond noted Dr Jackson making in his report about the Euronda mission, was not an objection towards helping those people. In fact Daniel was the first person to protest the need of providing humanitarian aid. The objections were to offering military aid which would prolong their war when there was another option. Daniel's thoughts were, as always, to protect lives. You are just an arrogant piece of filth, twisting facts to make your pathetic novel sell better.'  
  
Jack sighed and deleted the last sentence. Insulting the guy wouldn't help make his case. He wished he hadn't bothered to read the book now, it only made him angry that people could think of Daniel the way they did. The media had created a monster and given it the name Daniel Jackson.  
  
He was relieved when the phone rang. "Answer," he said clearly, and the phone screen switched on, revealing Hammond's face.  
  
"George," Jack said smiling, "let me guess, the world's going to be destroyed unless SG-1 can save it."  
  
"Not quick, Jack. SG-2 went on a mission to P2C-437 yesterday. This morning we received a message from the government of that world saying that they had broken their most important law and would be punished."  
  
"What was the law?"  
  
"They didn't say. All they would say was that they would allow one team to be sent from Earth to oversee the punishment."  
  
"Aren't there other teams you could send?" Jack asked.  
  
"The team are to go through unarmed. The man we spoke to said that your safety would be guaranteed, but I don't want to risk it. I can't think what SG-2 would do to break the laws on this world."  
  
"You think they were framed?"  
  
"Possibly, we won't know until someone goes through and checks it out. And since we've no idea the risk and the team isn't allowed weapons, I want to best team available to go and check it out."  
  
"So why have you called me?" Jack joked, but then went serious, "I'll be right there, General."  
  
Though SG-1 was official retired from active duty, they were occasionally called up for dangerous missions, or when ambassadors from other worlds wanted to meet those who were infamous throughout the galaxy. Jack always moaned about his quiet retirement being interrupted, but he was glad. Most of the time he thought he'd go mad if he didn't have the chance for adventure occasionally.  
  
When Jack reached Cheyanne Mountain the rest of SG-1 were already there, it being quicker to travel half-way across the galaxy than a few short kilometres over the Earth. If lives hadn't been in danger, he would have enjoyed the irony.  
  
He changed quickly into uniform and went to the Gate room. It seemed odd to be standing there without his gun at his side. That habit of a lifetime was one which had kept him alive during the war with the Goa'uld. Now that the war was over it still seemed hard to believe they were safe. Though safe was a relative term when travel to unknown worlds was involved.  
  
"Hey guys," Jack greeted the rest of the team. Teal'c stood, his face impassive as always at the base of the ramp. Seeing him in uniform after the last ten years in the robes of Chulak was strange, and stranger still was the sense of unbalance Jack had looking at him without his staff weapon.  
  
Sam and Jonas were there as well. They didn't look so odd without their weapons, since he usually saw them in the uniform of 813. Standing there, Jack felt almost as though it were old times. Almost, but not quite, Daniel belonged there as well. Where was Daniel now, Jack wondered.  
  
"SG-1, you have a go," Hammond's voice came through the speaker, and Jack turned to the active Gate. How many times had they been to other worlds as a team? So many, and he still didn't know what to expect on the other side.  
  
They emerged from the event horizon to see lush green fields and, thankfully, only a handful of trees. Directly in front of the Gate was an old man dressed in robes.  
  
"I'm glad you didn't bring any weapons," he said, "If you would follow me to the settlement." The man turned and Jack signalled his team to follow. It seemed rather easy. He'd been expecting a search of some kind. He could probably have hidden a zat in his pack and they wouldn't have guessed. Still, what's done was done and they were here now.  
  
"What exactly did SG-2 do?" Jack asked.  
  
"They broke our first law," the man replied, with what seemed to Jack to be deliberate unhelpfulness.  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"They knowingly set out to harm other people on this planet."  
  
"Were there any mitigating circumstances?" Jack asked.  
  
"What circumstances could justify hurting another person?"  
  
"Maybe if this person attacked them."  
  
"They were not threatened or harmed in any way by us. Their actions were entirely unfounded."  
  
"Was there even an investigation into the incident?" Jack pressed, determined not to let any of his people be punished for something that wasn't their fault.  
  
"Of course," the man replied, "we wouldn't put someone through cadge without proof they were guilty."  
  
"Can we see this proof?"  
  
"Naturally. There are video logs of your friends attacking our citizens, and several independent witnesses."  
  
"Video logs could be altered," Carter commented.  
  
"Why would anyone do that?" the man asked.  
  
"To frame SG-2."  
  
"No one here has any reason to do that, but I will let you inspect the video logs carefully if you wish."  
  
"We wish," Jack said firmly.  
  
They had reached the settlement by now, and Jonas was looking around curiously, probably trying to see what origins these people might have. It all looked relatively primitive. Jack altered that assessment when the man they were following led them to a large building. Inside were computer screens and control panels.  
  
"I will access the video logs for you, if you wish to know anything, you have only to ask. Unless you find something, the punishment will commence at sunset."  
  
"Can't we speak to our people?" Jack asked.  
  
"Not until after the punishment." The man typed something in at one of the computers then turned and left.  
  
"At least they're not planning on killing SG-2," Jonas said. Sam sat down at the computer.  
  
"Can you figure out how to use this?"  
  
"Easy, that man left it at a menu of some sorts, probably video files. Checking if they've been altered will be harder, since I've no idea what this means." She gestured at the rows of writing on the screen.  
  
"Jonas?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I've never seen anything like it. It's completely alien. It's odd, since the people here all seem to be human. Perhaps there was an alien culture here originally, and the humans transplanted by the Goa'uld adopted their language."  
  
"You can figure that out later," Jack said, "now we need to figure out how to get SG-2 out of trouble."  
  
Sam clicked one of the icons on the screen experimentally. An image appeared, obviously their equivalent of a security camera. The picture it showed was of a lab of some sort, some tanks were in the base of the view, but the camera angle made it impossible to see what was in them. Whatever it was, it was clearly surprising to the two people in SGC uniform staring at it.  
  
There was no sound, but they could see one of the people, a woman, use her radio to signal someone, probably the other members of the team. The other, a man, stepped up to the tanks, then stepped back hurriedly, looking worried.  
  
Nothing happened for a while, though the two soldiers exchanged some words the members of SG-1 wished they could hear. At last two men came in, the other members of SG-2, followed by a man dressed in the robes of these people. The angle he held his head meant his face was mostly hidden from the camera, but the little Jack caught a glimpse of looked vaguely familiar.  
  
He spoke to the man Jack recognised as Captain Farlow. Though they couldn't hear the words, they could see Farlow and the other members of SG-2 getting agitated as the discussion went on. The man from this world raised his hands in what was clearly a gesture for them to calm. Then Farlow hit him.  
  
Without knowing what was said they couldn't tell whether it was provoked or not, but watching the images on the screen it did look like they hadn't been threatened.  
  
"Can you get sound on this thing?" Jack asked.  
  
"I'll try," Sam replied. Staring at the alien computer with an expression stating clearly that she had no idea where to begin.  
  
Sam worked all day, but couldn't figure out either the computer or the language well enough to discover if the evidence was faked. So it meant that at sunrise they were led to a large building in the centre of the settlement.  
  
Against opposite sides of the room were rows of seats, and in the centre a machine rested on a table, with a chair behind it, facing the door. Behind the machine and chair was something like a box, a square of waist-height walls with a gate, in which people could be locked. It was only when the man leading SG-1 in turned aside and made them walk around the room instead of cutting across that Jack noticed the transparent walls. Whatever substance they were made of was clear enough that it was difficult to tell there was anything there. It seemed that the box and machine were separated from the seats and door.  
  
SG-1 sat nervously, as other people filed in and filled the seats. At least each seat was filled, and a small door in the separated portion of the room opened. Jack hadn't noticed the door before, so well was it matched to the wall around it. Jack shifted, looking for some way to get through the transparent wall as SG-2 entered. There had to be some way to get them out of there.  
  
A man stood in the centre of the room as three members of SG-1 were herded into the box-thing, and Colonel Farlow pushed into the seat. The man spoke clearly, as another hooked wires from the machine up to Farlow's head.  
  
"These people have broken the most sacred law of Methudas," he said, "and now must face the punishment allotted by our law. They will go through cadge." The man strode to the machine and pressed a switch. Jack saw Farlow's face tighten with pain, and was about to leap to his feet, try to break the wall, when Teal'c's hand pressed on his shoulder, and the Jaffa shook his head slightly. There would be a better time.  
  
After about thirty seconds, the man pressed another switch, and Farlow's face relaxed. One of the others who stood in that section to the room went to help him up, and took him to the box thing with the others, leading out another member of SG-2.  
  
Soon all four of them had been through the process, and the man switched off the machine with a finality that showed it was all over. An entrance appeared somehow in the transparent wall, and Jack was on his feet instantly, waiting by it. The rest of his team were there behind him, when SG-2 were let out.  
  
"Colonel Farlow? You alright?"  
  
"No, sir," Farlow replied, "No one is. There are Goa'uld on this planet."  
  
It took Jack a moment to comprehend the enormity of what had just been said. "That's impossible," he said, once Farlow's words sank in.  
  
"Not as impossible as you might think," a familiar voice said from behind him. He turned, and looked at someone he thought he'd never see again.  
  
***  
  
Author's note: I hope you're all intrigued. Please review, and I'll consider letting you know who it is. 


End file.
